Review: VectorTD

Posted by Chris K on February 6th, 2010 | 0 Comments | Tags:

Many of you may know Candystand from the web. They have one of the most popular flash game sites out there. But this is there first entry into the minis space and VectorTD tries to set its self out from the pack. The game may start off a bit slow, but by the end you will be making every move like it is your last.

The game is simple like most tower defense games. Choose one of eight maps and try to last 50 rounds without running out of lives. The formula is also similar to most games, there are different colored enemies, called vectoids, and towers of the same color will do more damage to them. After five rounds a boss vectoid shows up, and if you can destroy it you gain a bonus item. These can be cashed in for things like damage enhancers and range modifiers.

Your towers also have different effects on the vectoids. There are the blue towers, you will learn to love these, which can slow down a vectoid. There are also powerful red towers which shoot out homing missiles, another staple that you will be using a lot. You can upgrade each tower, adding more damage and extending their range. The graphics on-screen are vector-style and there are lots of particle effects. Although if you have a lot of power-ups it might be a little cluttered, but by the time that happens you should be at the end of the waves.

There was only one thing that kept me from giving this game a 5 star rating. That is the fact that there are no leaderboards or highscore tables. After hours of trying, I finally found a strategy that worked and to my dismay after clearing all 50 waves all I could do was restart or pick another map. I was bummed to say the least. I know minis can’t have online functions but a local highscore table would have been nice.

This game does all the little things right, I was impressed by small stuff like the background music softening when the game is paused. It really shows that the devs put a lot of thought into this title and they didn’t just try to rush a port. It may get under your skin, but when you finally find a strategy that works and you clear the stage, you really feel like you have accomplished something. There are not many games where you can say that.

A copy of this game was provided by the publisher for review purposes. For more info on our review policy click here. This review is for the PlayStation Portable version of the game.